A.1.1 General Features That Changed

A.1.1.1 Changed Features in Release 11.2

A restart of the primary database when upgrading the protection mode from maximum availability to maximum protection is no longer performed. If upgrading from maximum performance to maximum protection mode, a restart can be avoided, if the configuration is first upgraded to maximum availability mode.

A.1.1.2 Changed Features in Release 11.1

Changed database startup behavior.

The Data Guard broker honors the startup option specified by the database administrator. This removes the current requirement that databases belonging in a Data Guard configuration only be mounted. Previously, a primary or a logical standby database would be opened even if the DBA had only mounted it, but this will no longer happen. This also means that Data Guard actions will not start taking place until the database is opened in the case of a primary or a logical standby database. The DBA must explicitly open the database.

The ADD DATABASE CONNECT IDENTIFIER IS clause is now optional if a pre-existing standby is being added to the configuration.

A.1.1.3 Changed Features in Release 10.2

Changed failover behavior

After failover to a logical standby database, the broker disables all standby databases in the configuration that were not directly involved in the failover. The disabled databases must be re-created before they can serve as standby to the new primary database. Previously, failover to a logical standby database resulted in the broker disabling only physical standby databases.

Changed behavior for the DelayMins database property

When the DelayMins property is set to 0, log apply services apply redo data to the standby database as soon as possible, including using real-time apply if the standby database is configured with standby redo logs.

Additionally, if you specified the DelayMins and RealTimeApply properties on your release 10.1 database, the delay behavior might change unexpectedly. This is due to the RealTimeApply property being deprecated in release 10.2

For example, if your release 10.1 database had the DelayMins property set to a nonzero value and the RealTimeApply property set to YES, the delay setting was ignored because the real-time apply setting overrides any delay settings. However, because in release 10.2 the RealTimeApply property is deprecated, the release 10.2 database will no longer be affected by the RealTimeApply property and the application of redo according to the time specified by the DelayMins property may be unexpectedly delayed.

A.1.2 Changed Properties

A.1.2.1 Changed Properties in Release 11.2

The behavior of the following properties was changed in release 11.2:

Table A-1 Changed Properties in Release 11.2

Property Name

Description of Change

StatusReport

The StatusReport property is now included automatically when a SHOW DATABASE command is issued, so there is no longer any need to specify it on the command line. This new behavior enhances the output of the SHOW DATABASE command to include a list of errors or warnings about the status of the database. In an Oracle RAC database environment, it also includes the status of all running instances. This functionality is available starting with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2).

A.1.2.2 Changed Properties in Release 11.1

The following properties were changed in release 11.1:

Table A-2 Changed Properties in Release 11.1

Property Name

Description of Change

InitialConnectIdentifier

This property has been changed to DGConnectIdentifier. The value of DGConnectIdentifier will be used for all Data Guard network traffic, all of the time.

When upgrading a 10g configuration to Oracle Database release 11.1, the InitialConnectIdentifier value will be retained as the new DGConnectIdentifier value for that database. Before the upgrade, you must ensure that the InitialConnectIdentifier will reach all instances if this is an Oracle RAC database.

LsbyTxnConsistency

This property has been changed to LsbyPreserveCommitOrder

A.1.2.3 Changed Properties in Release 10.2

The following properties were changed in release 10.2:

Table A-3 Changed Properties in Release 10.2

Property Name

Description of Change

ApplyInstanceTimeout

The default value has changed from 120 seconds to 0 seconds.

ApplyParallel

New default is AUTO

DelayMins

Using this property is the preferred method for delaying the application of redo data to a standby database. If you set DelayMins property to 0:

Any previously configured DelayMins setting will be ignored.

The standby database will apply redo data as soon as possible, including using real-time apply if the standby database is configured with standby redo logs.

If you have more than one physical standby database in the configuration, Oracle recommends using Flashback Database after a failing over to a physical standby databases. You can use Flashback Database to reinstate any physical standby databases that were disabled but were not the target of the failover.

LogArchiveMaxProcesses

Range of valid values is now from 1 to 30 (was from 1 to 10)

LsbyTxnConsistency

Now imports the value of PRESERVE_COMMIT_ORDER from SYSTEM.LOGSTDBY$PARAMETERS instead of TRANSACTION_CONSISTENCY

NetTimeout

The default value has changed from 30 seconds to 180 seconds.

A.1.3 Changed State Names

Table A-4 shows the database state names that changed in Release 11.1:

Footnote 1 Prior to Release 11.1, the READ-ONLY state allowed a physical standby database to be opened read-only. In Release 11.1, this database state has been deprecated because a physical standby database can apply redo while opened read-only. Therefore this state change operation through the broker is no longer necessary.

Footnote 2 This database state has been deprecated. You can shut down a database using either the SQL*Plus SHUTDOWN command or the DGMGRL SHUTDOWN command.

A.2.1 Deprecated and Obsolete Features in Release 11.2

This section contains information about Data Guard broker features that were deprecated or are obsolete.

The HostName configurable instance-specific property has been deprecated. This is in effect as of Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2).

A.2.2 Deprecated and Obsolete Features in Release 11.1

This section contains information about Data Guard broker features that were deprecated or are obsolete.

Deprecated database properties include:

LocalListenerAddress

The READ-ONLY state for physical standby databases has been deprecated

The OFFLINE and ONLINE states have been deprecated

The ADD DATABASE ... MAINTAINED AS {PHYSICAL|LOGICAL} statement is deprecated. Specifically, the MAINTAINED AS clause of ADD DATABASE command is deprecated. The broker now automatically finds out the standby database type.

A.2.2.1 Deprecated and Obsolete Properties in Release 11.1

Table A-5 Deprecated and Obsolete Properties in Release 11.1

Deprecated Property

Replacement Property (if any)

LsbyTxnConsistency

LsbyPreserveCommitOrder

A.2.3 Deprecated and Obsolete Features in Release 10.2

This section contains information about Data Guard broker features that were deprecated or are obsolete.

A.2.3.1 Deprecated and Obsolete Properties in Release 10.2

Table A-6 Deprecated and Obsolete Properties in Release 10.2

Deprecated Property

Replacement Property (if any)

ApplyNext

No replacement.

ApplyNoDelay

Set the DelayMins property to zero (0).

AsyncBlocks

None. Specifying the number of blocks is no longer necessary. The transport mode is determined automatically by redo transport services, based on the protection mode defined for the Data Guard configuration.